Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-07-10
POWDERLY ON IMMIGRATION,
The Knights of Labor Leader Writes u
Strong Letter Against the Importation

The knights OF labor Leader Writes -
Strong Letter Against the Importation
of Paupers.
SCRANTON, Pa, July 7.-General Mas
ter Workman Powderly regards immigra-
ton as one of the most perplexing problems
of the day. He treats the subject in a
vigorous manner in a letter which he pub
lished over his signature in last evenings
paper, and intimates that the order OF
which he is the head is fully aroused to the
Importance of the question, and will make
it one of the most prominent issues in the
next Presidential campaign. Replying to
an editorial in yesterday mornings issue
of Congressman Scranton's paper, which
said that "Mr. Powderly's policy would
shut the doors against the classes who most
of all have need Of this country" Mr..
Powderly says:
''My policy would undoubtedly shut the
door against a great many who, most OF
all, have need Of this country, but it would
not prevent the landing of any individual
of whom the country is in need, and as
this is a two-sided question it is only fair
to consider the requirements and needs Of
the country as we'll as those of the immi-
grant. Does the United States require an
influx of immigrants at the rate Of ] 900 to
IL, 900 a day? My experience teaches Inc
that this constantly increasing tide of i'm
migration is detrimental to the immigrant
and the country to which he comes. /
said, and now ! repeat it, that until 1t can
he shown that the person landing on our
shores can be self. sustaining for at least one
wear he should not be allowed to land. 1t
does not follow that each immigrant should
show the ready cash, although that would
be better still. What is required is to
know the condition of the country and its
needs, and if the condition OF the country
is such that a mar can not be sel'-sustain.
ing for the first year after his arrival, if he
must knock at the door of mine, mill or
factory, and offer to take the place of the
American w~orkingman for less money than
that man receives for his labor; then his
advent to this country partakes more OF
the nature OF q curse than a blessing. My
plan does not deal with the immigrant
alone. 1t will, through the aid of bureaus
now being perfected, show what an amount
of immigration this country requires.
More than that we should not have"
In answer to the assertion that no man
in public life has expressed q willingness
to apply to immigration the restrictive
measures Mr.. Powderly advocates, the
General Master Workman says: THAT
may be accounted for from the fact that
scarcely any one of the men in public life
have ever had to compete with the class
of labor now landing On our shores. Il
they had to act the part of the every day
laborer before becoming public men and il
they intended returning TO the ranks o.
labor after retiring from public life, our
public men might be willing to apply even
more restrictive measures than | advocate
Knownothingism, as l understand it,
would prevent the landing of every foreign.
er, and particularly the Roman Catholic
No such Interpretation can possibly be
given to anything | have said. The mer
who are prominent in politics arr
not the ones who first
speak out on questions which
concern the people of this country. Tn,
people speak first themselves, and as soor
as it is known the people want q thing the
man prominent in politics will join in the
cry, but he seldom takes the lead. | know
what the working people of this country
want, and that want is not confined to the
American born w~Orkingman. 1t is uni
versal. That want is to restrict immigra
tion for the sake Of the country and tht
immigrant; in other words, the working
men want a fair share Of the protection
that is afforded TO the employer of labor
The man who is not se~lf.sustaining is 6
pauper, aud this country has no use fol
him. II the man who lands in this coun,
try is a pauper we have to sustain him. i
he throws a resident of this country out o.
employment by taking his situation from
him and working for less wages, he makes
a pauper or a dependent of the American
workman. Every man to be in accord
with the genius of our institutions should
be independent and not dependent.
THE conditions which surrounded the
immigrant of sixty, twenty-five or even ter
years ago were far different from those sur
rounding the poor fellow who lands to-day,
and among the men who cry out against
immigration to-day are thousands whC
landed no longer ago than ten years. I'm
proved machinery and new inventions
have, within the last twenty-five years
made it possible for n man to do the work
of three, and in many instances the work
of ten. In every case where the machine
has made it possible for a man to do in 9
day what it required three men to do be,
fore, two out OF every three must look
elsewhere for q means Of earning
a livelihood. Twenty-Five year:
have witnessed the absorption of our pub,
lie lands by syndicates, native and alien.
Bonanza farming on the one hand and
land speculation on the other have made
it impossible for the two men who have
been displaced by the machine to 90 upon
the land and earn a living. They must
remain in the town OF city. To-day we
witness n marvellous increase in the popu.
lation Of our cities, and an alarming de.
crease in the population OF our farming
districts-that is, the agricultural popula
ton does not by any means keep proper
tionate pace with the population of min
ing, manufacturing and mechanical CEN
ters. All this tends to show that some
thing must be done to equalize our pOpula-
tom
Mr.. Powderly claims tnat no laborer
who lands on American soil from a foreign
country under existing conditions without
visible means of support will W a home
of his W within the next fifty years. He
denies that his theory is too radical or con-
trary to the spirit of American institu-
tons, and points TO the action of the Re
publican party in restricting the importa.
tion Of the product of foreign labor on the
plea that it is for the benefit of labor, and
at the same time permitting the indis.
criminate importation Of the very mel
against whose productions it raises q bar,
rier in the shape Of a tariff. The General
Master Workman is intensely earnest on
the question of immigration, and the or.
ganization of which he is the leader will
undoubtedly address itself t. that prob
lem in a practical manner without delay,
A Flat Contradiction.
Some one has told you that your catarrh
is incurable. 1t is not so. DR.. Sage's
'Catarrh remedy will cure it. 1t is pleas.
ant tn usa and IL alwavs docs ito WORK thor.